MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York town approved new zoning laws that would prevent any significant development of Plum Island, home to a government laboratory studying infectious animal diseases since the 1950s.

Newsday (http://bit.ly/1dOGMEm ) says the Southold Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday to establish two zoning districts on the 843-acre property off eastern Long Island, should it be sold.

Under the zoning rules, the bulk of the island would be preserved as a conservation district while laboratory research would be allowed on part of it.

Congress voted in 2009 to close the aging laboratory, and the federal government is now deciding whether to sell it. Proceeds from the sale are supposed to defray the costs of moving operations to a new laboratory at Kansas State University.